God Hired a Soldier
by griseldchisld
Summary: An attempt to write the plot holes, lapses of logic, and extremely hazy world out of FFXIII.
1. Bells

Even over the rumbling of the prison train and the screams of soldiers, the bells of Anima rang clear.

Lightning heard them ringing as she pointed the gun at the soldier's forehead.

"Sergeant, no—"

The bells rang through the gunshot.

The train accelerated suddenly, throwing Lightning off balance. She stumbled and grabbed the wall for support, cursing and ducking low. Fighting without a Grav-Con Unit left you a victim of the whims of inertia. She felt naked and exposed without it, a knight without her armor.

She quickly searched the soldier. He had lost his GCU. Idiot! She banged his helmet with her fist. But if he wasn't stupid, then it only confirmed what she had suspected: The soldiers on board were also going to be Purged. And the Sanctum didn't want to waste their precious technology on the damned.

Stupid to be on the Purge train. Everyone here was stupid. Sometimes there wasn't a smart option.

She took the ammo from his gunblade and hurried behind the cover of the panicked, milling civilians in the train carriage.

"There's warmechs flying around outside!" Sazh panted, clutching a pair of pistols. He had taken them off one of the three soldiers now laying on the floor of the carriage. They were military-grade Vega 42s, designed for on-the-move, flexible units of soldiers who could carry pistols, shotguns, and sniper rifles all for the weight and space of a single pair of handguns. She wondered if he really knew how to use them.

"So?"

"So if we go out the side door, we're sitting ducks!" As if to emphasize his point, a tiny baby chocobo popped out of his thick, curly black hair. Lightning stared at in in disbelief for a moment.

"This train is going to Pulse," she said eventually. "The Sanctum doesn't care if every soldier on board is Purged too. They'll never stop it till every single person who might be tainted by a Pulse fal'Cie is taken off Cocoon no matter what the cost."

"Then…then we have to move soon." Sazh licked his lips and looked outside. Lightning followed his gaze. They were in the Vestige, the Hanging Ruins coming up fast. The last stop before Pulse.

"But how do we open the door?" he said.

"Just cover me."

Lightning strode toward the door to the next cabin, which wasn't opening, as she expected. As long as they couldn't get out the side door, they were stuck on the train, which was taking them to Pulse. Who cared if the civilians rioted? They were trapped anyway.

She shouldered her gunblade, a Blazefire Saber model, and nodded at Sazh.

He blanked. "What?"

"Blow it open!"

"Oh, uh, right. You got it, lady."

Lightning glared as he struggled to reshape the pistols into a shotgun.

"Other way," she snapped, "lock it in, turn the barrel, and cock it!"

"Like this?" He pointed the newly assembled shotgun at the door. "Fire?"

"Fire!"

She snapped her fingers. He squeezed the trigger, and an explosion went off. She screamed and bent over at the sudden noise, having forgotten she didn't have her Grav-Con Unit to protect her from the blast.

Sazh was saying something, motioning to the earplugs in his ears. He must have picked a pair off one of the soldiers. She said, "Fuck off," and didn't hear it, and looked at the door, which, as she expected, was mostly undamaged.

"Open this damn door!" she felt herself scream at the occupants on the other side, "or we start killing civilians!"

She saw Sazh making a wild gesture and felt herself say, "Fuck off," again.

Something shadowy moved in the window. Lightning drew back and raised her Blazefire Saber. Sazh mimicked her action.

The door opened. Her ears were ringing. But she heard the bells of Anima ringing louder.

No grenades, no gunfire rocked the cabin. They could deport civilians to Hell if they wanted, but they wouldn't want to _kill_ any of them.

She peered into the carriage from her vantage point. They were sitting nice and polite in their seats, shuttled in comfort to certain doom. And in the back, a flicker—

Lightning whipped her cape off and tossed it in front of the open door. Even as a round of machine-gun fire tore holes in it, she was diving along the floor, the barrel of her gunblade lining up with the target. She squeezed the trigger, and a round burst off, ripping through the armor on the soldier's leg. He fell, and she rolled, Sazh bracing her against the wall.

"That's one!" he shouted into her ear. Lightning nodded, pushed him away, and pointed her gunblade at one of the civilians she could see. They were cowering, covering their faces and trembling. They had boarded the train with relatively little fuss. What was a bullet compared to Pulse?

She squeezed the trigger again, watched a hole appear in the wall just above the civilian's head.

"Toss your weapons down and come out with your hands up, or I start blowing heads off!" she screamed.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then a pair rifles flew in past the door and landed on the ground, followed moments after by a third.

"All of it!" she shouted. Three pistols followed, and three knives.

"Come out with your hands up!"

The scream of the train on the AMP track was the only thing she could hear.

"They want to know about the soldier you shot!" Sazh screamed into her ear.

"Leave him, the other two come out!" Lightning shouted.

"Don't do anything funny or I'll shoot!" Sazh added unnecessarily. Lightning gripped her gunblade and crouched.

The first soldier appeared, hands behind his head.

"Get in the chair!" Lightning barked, and he sat in the nearest open seat. Then she shot him.

The next soldier had a lieutenant's stripes. Lightning had a fragmentary moment of sourceless dread. Then he snapped his fingers behind his head, and in the next moment had kicked Sazh against the wall so hard the cabin shook.

Lightning squeezed the trigger, but with his Grav-Con Unit activated it deflected off his shoulder. The inertia-manipulating field showed as a hazy purple glow around his body. Cursing, she faked a move to stand up and dived to the side instead, but his kick caught her in the midsection and threw her against the edge of the door. Her back slammed painfully against the metal; she screamed and saw red.

His black boots appeared in front of her. Feeling around, she realized she had dropped the Blazefire Saber. A single shimmering hand hauled her up roughly and slammed her against the doorjamb. His fist drew back, and her hand came out of her jacket and stabbed her survival knife into his gut, forcing it through the inertial field. It wasn't enough to stop him, dulled as it was by the Grav-Con Unit, but it did prevent the blow to her jaw from knocking her out.

He dropped her and backhanded her with the same hand, sending her crashing to the floor. She spat blood and whirled around. The civilians were crowded against the opposite door, staying as far away from the fight as they could.

The lieutenant had his pistol, and had pointed it at her head.

A gunshot went off, and the lieutenant collapsed.

"Bastard," Sazh grunted, holding his shotgun.

Lightning rushed over to the lieutenant and taking his Grav-Con Unit. She snapped her fingers and breathed a sigh of relief as the crackling purple field surrounded her.

Sazh was saying something. Lightning cued the Grav-Con Unit and heard his voice through the amplified sound waves.

"I'm in a lot of pain," he grimaced. "He did a number on you too. What now?"

Lightning grabbed the Blazefire, more ammo, and stood in front of the side door.

"We have to go now," Sazh said. "We'll be past the Hanging Edge in less than a minute!"

She activated the Grav-Con Unit again, grabbed the door, and pushed. Transferring the kinetic energy from her own body traveling at the same speed as the train into the door, it was shoved away and flew into the distance like a toy.

Wind whipped into the cabin, blowing her tangled pink hair around. Warmechs were flying around in the distance, clearly monitoring the train. At once they spotted her, or rather the open door. A radio message crackle on the lieutenant's com.

" _Report in, lieutenant, what is happening in Cell D?"_

Lightning ignored it. She peered down. There was a narrow road leading away from the gate to Pulse and toward the Vestige. The problem was getting there.

 _"Lieutenant, we are sending units your way. Respond immediately."_

The Hanging Edge was vast and vertical, wrapped with dozens of winding roads that were lined with soldiers. Strange structures hung in the air, vestiges of the war 500 years ago.

Buzzing, blue-glowing flying ships were speeding toward the train. They had wings and tails, half machine, half animal. Strong, but stupid.

Sazh had stood up and was standing beside her, leaning against the wall. "How do we get out of here?"

"I don't know yet."

"You don't know yet?"

"Shut up." A platform near the train was coming up fast in the distance. "There! A docking point."

"You think this train is going to stop?"

"No, but I'm going to jump!"

"You mean us, right? At this speed?"

"Yes. Get ready."

"Hey! Lady! I don't have that magic purple thing, I'll get crushed!"

Lightning ignored him. It was a standard buddy jump.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?"

"Shut up! I'm gauging the distance."

She narrowed her eyes. Five seconds.

Four. She grabbed his belt.

Three. "Hey! Don't—"

Two. She snapped her fingers.

The air vibrated; the bells of Anima had tolled.

She pushed off with impossible force, transferring the speed from the train into her jump, pulling him with her. They hurtled toward the platform and were there in an instant, the inertial field crackling around Lightning as her combat boots landed heavily. Instead of keeping the field around her, she cued it to stay in place, meaning she skipped forward and pulled Sazh into the energy field, now a thick purple ball. It slowed his velocity to almost nothing, allowing Lightning to brace him.

He was shouting something. She snapped her fingers and wished she hadn't.

"—whoa, whoa whoa! Don't ever do that again! Saw my life flashing before my eyes…."

Lightning tuned him out and scanned the horizon. A large, flying wraith was coming.

"Move!" she ordered, grabbing his chest and pushing him toward the other side of the platform. There was no path—because there would be a transport shuttle for the soldiers—

A loud whine split the air. Lightning turned her head, saw it—Manasvin Warmech, she remembered from pictures in the manuals—a giant, metal scorpion with electric buzz saws for arms, a machine-beast designed to fight the monsters from Pulse. It was coming closer, too fast—she shoved Sazh against the edge of the platform and braced him, and snapped her fingers.

It smashed onto the platform, cracking the stone apart. It knocked their footing loose and slid forward faster than they fell; Lightning's boots touched the metal creature, she grabbed Sazh's belt, pushed off with the energy of the diving metal scorpion, and launched them toward a low road curving around toward the eastern wall. Again she braced him for the landing.

Setting him against a pillar, she stared up at the crumbling platform. The Warmech was nowhere to be seen.

Sazh was visibly laughing. She checked the juice on her Grav-Con Unit and snapped her fingers.

"—ha ha ha ha! Oh, have mercy, I am never doing this again!" He threw back his head and laughed, then winced and grabbed his side. "You're crazy. What are you, PSICOM?"

"Guardian Corps."

"They all as crazy as you?"

She thought of her old sergeant. "Yes."

He laughed again. "What's the plan, Thunder and Lightning? This road's so far down there aren't any soldiers, but we've got quite a hike to our destination."

"So let's go. Can you walk?"

"Not really. Can you?"

"With the adrenaline and the Grav-Con Unit, I'm fine."

"You Guardian Corps are something else, huh?" He chuckled. "You gonna leave me here? Holding you up and all that."

"Can you still shoot?"

He started breaking down the shotgun into twin pistols. "Think so."

"Then I'll support you. Come on."

She helped him break the shotgun down and hoisted some of his weight around her shoulders. Together they started walking up the long road. Toward Anima, toward the God from Pulse that had started this war.


	2. The Hero

If PSICOM didn't know she had a Grav-Con Unit, then they didn't know she was alive.

Had they ID'd her? But she had been searched before boarding the Purge train, and they had taken everything but the survival knife pressed tightly inside her jacket, against her skin. It hadn't been too hard to shift it around while being searched, enough to fool a harassed, hurried, and frightened PSICOM grunt.

It had been bizarre watching soldiers cower from their prisoners, ordinary civilians who had never held a gun a day in their lives. Ordinary civilians still on the train to Pulse, unless some of them jumped out the open door and into oblivion. A better fate than the hell that awaited them.

Even soldiers were scared of l'Cie.

Whatever. A warmech would come down here looking or it wouldn't. She'd deal with it when the time came.

Vibrations were coming from above her right shoulder. She queued her Grav-Con Unit.

"So how can I get me one of those things?" Sazh was saying.

"One of what?"

"That finger-snapping thing that turns you into a purple super woman. What do they call that, anyway? AMP technology, right?"

"It's a Grav-Con Unit."

"You might as well be a l'Cie with that thing. Can I try?"

Lightning considered Sazh. With his light green overcoat, dusty pants and heavy boots, he was dressed like an engineer on his day off. Middle-aged, hair curly enough to be a nest for a baby bird. He was tall, but some of it was hair. He had a tendency to mock his own misfortune. Then again, he had saved her life. She'd be on the train to Pulse right now if it weren't for Sazh.

"No," she said. "Untrained? You'd tear yourself apart."

"I don't like the sound of that. You keep your Unit, and I'll stick to these." He patted the pistols in his coat pocket. "I need holsters."

"We'll go shopping."

"Ha! You're funny. Did you know that? That you're funny?"

"No."

Something in her voice seemed to make him stop. She gripped his belt with her arm around his waist, the other attached to his wrist around her neck and heaved him up a little.

About 40 percent left in the Grav-Con. She powered it down and staggered at the sudden weight.

"You okay?" Sazh said. With him next to her, if she had a fair guess of what he was saying, he was audible enough. She ignored the question and kept walking.

The road they were on curved up toward a loading platform from where she could jump down to another that spiraled toward a path that seemed to be going toward the Vestige. These roads were built long ago, and where portions had collapsed they hadn't been replaced. Even 500 years later, the war's effects still showed.

Burning white searchlights beamed down from flying war machines. Thin green beams flashed and glittered, hunting for bioelectric signals. When they jumped down toward the center path, it would be almost impossible to hide for long.

She could fight two of them, she lied to herself. Three. She had to save Serah.

Problem was, there were a lot more than three of them.

"I don't see how we can get up from here," Sazh said.

"We'll jump."

"What? But—oh, right. Gravity don't mean much to the Guardian Corps. I see."

She snorted.

"But then we're out in the open, ain't we? Sitting ducks for the Sanctum's warmechs."

"The warmechs are stupid. Dumb like animals."

"Don't need to be smart if you weigh three tons and have laser cannons."

"Is that a saying?"

"I'm saying we're in trouble."

She released her grip on his waist and heaved him off of her. He stumbled back and fell, landing hard on his rear.

"Do you want to stop?" she demanded. She couldn't shout like she used to; all the screaming as a sergeant had worn out her throat, but it gave her delivery a husky quality that added to its strength. "Do you want to stay here and let the fal'Cie do this?"

He struggled to sit upright. "No. I've gotta rescue Dajh."

"Who's Dajh?"

"My little man. All I've got since my wife died. The fal'Cie took him and made him a l'Cie at Euride Gorge. I've got to free him of the curse."

The bells of Anima rang. For a moment the echo lingered.

"I'm trying to save my sister, Serah," Lightning said. "The fal'Cie made her a l'Cie too."

"Anima?"

She nodded.

He reached out his hand. After a moment, she took it and hauled him up.

"Thanks," he said, dusting himself off. "I don't want to live to see my kid turned into a monster anyway. We'll get to the fal'Cie or die trying."

"Yes. We will."

The crack of gunfire split the air. She whipped around, ducking for cover, but it wasn't aimed at them. Up on a high loading bridge, a battle between two armed forces had broken out.

"What's going on?" Sazh crouched by her, wincing. "These your Guardian boys come to rescue you?"

"Not likely."

Lightning narrowed her eyes and squinted. It was too far to see. Who would attack PSICOM at the Hanging Edge?

Oh.

Oh no. Not him. Not now.

Not the Idiot.

* * *

He hadn't planned on raising an army.

He hadn't planned at all. Just kicked down the door and started shooting. The army had just kind of happened. Like the engagement.

Now they were fighting through the Hanging Edge with the refugees they'd gathered from the Purge and weapons stolen from a PSICOM cache. A lot of people had died. He hadn't planned on that either.

Better than their fate on Pulse, at least.

Small comfort.

"You okay, boss?"

Snow snapped out of his trance and nodded at Gadot. "Yeah. Let's put some pep into the new recruits." He turned and surveyed the frightened group, the latest ones they had freed from a PSICOM march.

"Listen up, everybody," Snow said to the huddled Purge refugees. "I'm the hero, name's Snow. I'm here to protect you." He gestured at Gadot and the others. "These bozos are my soldiers. We've got a bone to pick with the Pulse fal'Cie. But we're not going to let the Sanctum take you all to Pulse. So who's ready to fight?"

He scanned the intersecting roads around them. The warmechs were circling, but rocket launchers had stopped their dives. Seemed like they thought the refugees were his hostages. Ship 'em to Pulse against their will, sure, but don't let them be _hurt_.

It was in times like these that he felt like he understood some of the anger that drove Lightning. He hadn't seen her since the Purge had come to Bodhum. Pity. Could've used a soldier like her here.

PSICOM snipers were hurrying into position. He barked an order at Gadot and the others to take cover. As for himself, he strode out, wanting to get a better view of their target.

Sniper gunfire exploded. Snow peered toward their destination, trying to see a way forward. Bullets bounced off his chest and arms. One pinged his chin and he shook his head for a moment to clear his vision.

The Vestige from Pulse was floating in the center of the Hanging Edge, surrounding by a rotating swarm of warmechs. PSICOM snipers flanked the road ahead, ready to cut down anyone who tried to cross.

The military-grade earplugs, half-machine, half-artificial organism, let in the soft ripple of confusion and amazement from the refugees in front of him while muting the harsh scream of the warmechs above into a high-pitched whine.

The machine on the back of his coat began to whirr as more bullets bounced off his body. He didn't want the AMP device to overheat, but there were kids watching who needed some inspiration. It would be a shame to waste the moment.

He spread his arms. "PSICOM!" he shouted. "Soldiers of Sanctum!" His voice boomed across the gap with the AMP device on his back. "These people have done nothing to hurt you! They are loyal citizens, not Pulse fal'Cie! The only enemies of Cocoon are those who order you to Purge the innocent! Now let me through to see the fal'Cie. I'm putting an end to this."

Blue discs glowed along the interconnected paths overhead where the PSICOM soldiers waited. Fragmented rectangles pooled out and wrapped around each other, taking on the appearance of giant monsters. Snarling, they began leaping to the levels below.

"So that's a no," Snow said. "Don't worry," he said to the refugees as two giant machine-bull behemoths slammed onto the ground in front of him.

"You're going to get us all killed!" a refugee shouted.

"Better than Pulse," Snow answered. "But I'm the hero. I'll protect everyone."

"Arm us," a silver-haired woman said urgently. "I was a Guardian reserve. We can fight."

"That's not a bad idea." Snow began to walk toward the two bulls. Each was about ten feet tall and even longer, swaying like animals and watching him with robotic eyes. Riot control. Here to stop him from escaping. As if he would backtrack now. "But the hero's going to take care of this."

He nodded at Gadot and the others, who stayed crouched behind piles of broken rubble, and faced the villains.

One stamped its feet, roared, and charged.

He caught it by the horns, grunting as it forced him back. The emblem on his trench coat whirred excitedly as it strained to manipulate the inertia in his body, compensating for overworked muscles and a lack of sheer mass. It would take a greater shock than five tons of metal slamming into him at thirty kilometers an hour to hurt him.

"Boss!" Gadot shouted.

"Shaddap," Snow said, and shoved the bull's head to the side, then crashed his hand down on the snout. The bull was sent sliding along the ground. He rushed its exposed belly, heaving, and shoved. It was enough to send it kicking over the edge of the road into the hazy green void.

He turned to the next one and saw its mouth open, a blazing white light forming.

"Oh, shi—"

Something flew past him. It struck inside the beast's open mouth and exploded. The beam released in a scattered white burst, glancing harmlessly off Snow, and the riot machine collapsed, jerking and sparking.

Snow turned, and gave the silver-haired woman a thumbs up. There was sweat on the back of his neck. "Nice job."

She smirked, shouldering a rocket launcher she had picked up from one of the PSICOM soldiers. A gunshot rang out, and her expression changed to shock as she collapsed, bleeding from a hole in her neck.

"No!" Snow shouted, rushing over, but it was already too late. Even as he cradled her and covered the open holes with his hands, the life slipped from her eyes.

"No," Snow said again, and slammed his fist on the ground, leaving a crack. "Damn it, PSICOM, she was a civilian!"

A silver-haired boy was standing up among the refugees, being pulled back by the others. "I'm going on alone," Snow said to Gadot, shaking with anger. "Lead these people to the hoverbikes when PSICOM's attention is on me. They won't attack the civilians as long as they don't pick up a gun. Just keep moving!"

Gadot looked unhappy, but nodded. "What're you going to do, boss?"

Snow set the woman down and stood, looking at the Pulse Vestige. "I'm going to end this."

* * *

"This is our chance!" Lightning said. She grabbed Sazh and snapped her fingers. The purple field crackled over her, and she hauled him in bounding leaps up the road. "That idiot's good for only one thing, drawing attention to himself."

"Whoaaa!" Sazh yelled as she pulled him along as fast as a car. "Hey! Lady! There's no seat belts on this thing!"

"This is our one chance!" Lightning answered. She smiled coldly. "This must be what people call a miracle."

* * *

Snow jumped onto a lower road, landing with enough force to crack it. Soldiers surrounded him on hoverbikes, AMP engines screaming. They leveled grenade launchers. He caught a grenade, threw it back, knocked the rider off his bike. Took the bike.

Revving the engine, he urged it on through the air toward the Pulse fal'Cie.

Bullets cut the air around him. The fire slowed as he neared the Vestige. The warmechs spiraling around it converged toward him at first, then peeled away and let him through.

* * *

"He's trapped on the Vestige," Lightning said. "Rumor has it they sealed a PSICOM team in there too when they went to investigate. It's all being sent back to Pulse, so who cares if he reaches the fal'Cie inside?"

"Think they'll be kind enough to treat us the same?" Sazh said.

"Doubt it."

"So what's the plan, soldier?"

'The Vestige is being moved toward that center platform. At the right time, we can jump."

"Yeah, but how are we going to make that jump?"

She grabbed his waist.

Sazh sighed. "I hate it when you do that."

"Ready?"

"No."

Lightning watched the Vestige float through the air. It looked slow, but that was deceptive. It was huge, and moving fast. Maybe twelve seconds.

She snapped her fingers, and started to run.

The warmechs turned.

Faster.

Green lights flashed over them.

Jump. Now.

She pushed off the edge with enough force to drive two human beings thirty feet in the air. Machine-gun fire burst, but they were moving too fast for a human gunner to track accurately. A warmech was in the way. She queued the Grav-Con Unit.

The beast-machine's tail whipped around. It slammed her on the side, making the inertial field around her spark and buzz. Better contact would have broken her arm. As it was, the field diverted most of the hit.

It did change their course though, sending them rocketing at a downward angle away from the Vestige. She queued the AMP device again, sending it out of her in a swirling purple circle like she had done to brace Sazh. It caught her, stopping their movement. For a moment they hung over the dark-green void.

"We're going to fall!" Sazh shouted.

"Shut up." She cued the remaining energy back over her, pushed out from the dying field, and shot slowly, silently toward the Vestige.

"We're not going to make it!" Sazh grabbed her.

Her fingers clutched a ledge. She threw him up and then pulled herself over and into the Vestige.

"We did it!" Sazh said like he didn't quite believe it had happened. "Let's get inside quick before they change their mind about shooting."

Lightning followed him through a door, which opened automatically, checking her Grav-Con Unit for juice. Making a disgusted noise, she stowed it, and brushed past him, leading the way up the alien wreckage from the war toward where the last god of the ancient enemy waited.


	3. On the Pulse Vestige

"So this is the Pulse Vestige, huh?"

"Seems like it." The stairs had led them to a door. Its control console on the wall still flickered with power. Lightning activated it, and the door opened.

"Everything's still working," Sazh commented as they headed up the next flight of stairs. "Pulse makes stuff to last. Pulse teleported this Vestige here, right? We didn't take it. Sanctum, I mean."

Lightning strode on. Sazh was a talker. There hadn't been many talkers in the Guardian Corps.

"What're you going to do when you meet the fal'Cie?" Sazh said. He was struggling a little, trying to keep up with damaged ribs.

She spared him a glance. "Can you walk?"

"I can walk," he panted. "Run? I don't know."

"Can you help? Against the fal'Cie?"

"I don't know." He leaned against the wall, clearly grateful for the reprieve. "What kind of help do you need?"

"Help talking to a fal'Cie."

"Ha! You really are funny. You want to talk to the fal'Cie, you need to be a prophet."

"What do you mean?"

He waved his hands inscrutably. "The fal'Cie, they might as well be gods, aren't they? We're like ants to them. No one can really understand them. That's why the l'Cie—"

"Serah's not a l'Cie!"

In the silence, the bells of Anima tolled once more. The sound was hollow and odd from within the Vestige, and the sound throbbed in her body as the noise faded.

"Hey, hey, the fal'Cie took someone I care about too," Sazh said gently. "We'll get them both back, okay?"

She turned away. "I don't know how."

"It's tricky." She heard Sazh shift behind her. "We don't know what the fal'Cie want. But there's only one way to find out. All we can do is hope."

"Hope is a lie! I need a plan! I need a weapon!"

"That AMP device isn't going to do much against a fal'Cie." His voice was more serious, less jokey and laid-back. "Soldier girl wants the facts, huh? Fact is the fal'Cie branded this, uh, Serah. I'm right, ain't I? And now she's a l'Cie, and she's going to be Purged. Hey, she's not on the train, is she?"

"No! She's here."

"How do you know?"

"How would she have left?"

"Sounds like a story."

Lightning made a show of examining her Blazefire.

"I don't mind telling mine," Sazh said. Lightning started to walk, not glancing back to see if he was following. "Dajh, my little boy, was branded at Euride Gorge."

"…The power plant by Bodhum?"

"Wait, you don't know Euride Gorge? Hey, it's a big tourist attraction. The kids love it."

"A power plant?"

"Chocobos! There's a farm at the base of the volcano. He likes chocobos, and I like power plants, so we compromised."

Lightning cued the next door and walked through.

"Slow down a little, will you? Dajh wanted to see a fal'Cie, so I told him we'd go see Kujata, the fal'Cie that runs the power plant at Euride."

Something clicked. "The incident. The volcano almost erupted."

"Ha! Is that what the Sanctum said? What, you thought they sent PSICOM to deal with a volcano? What would the do, Purge the lava?"

"No."

"The volcano generates the power, but it's completely controlled by a Sanctum fal'Cie, Kujata. He…she? The fal'Cie don't make mistakes. They might as well be gods. The only thing that can challenge a fal'Cie is another fal'Cie."

Lightning stopped. "Anima."

"Mm-hmm. Some high-ups from Sanctum told me everything had to stay hush-hush, but I don't think it matters now. Not after what we did."

"'What we did?'" Lightning snorted. "Call it revolution."

"I…hey, I just want my son back. I never voted for a Primarch who could take him. Hey, uh, you're not, uh…starting a revolution, are you? Soldier girl?"

Lightning glanced down a hall that led to nowhere, then cued the next door.

"Uh…wait up! So this incident, with the fal'Cie—hey!"

Lightning slammed Sazh against the wall.

"Watch the rib, watch the ri—owww!"

"Why is Anima here?" Lightning demanded.

"I don't know!"

"You're lying!"

"I'm not! I swear! I just haven't told you everything yet!"

Lightning loosened her grip. "Talk."

Sazh exhaled and slumped against the wall. "I don't know why the Pulse fal'Cie came here or what it wanted with one of our Sanctum fal'Cie. I guess the war's not over."

"It ended five hundred years ago."

"Maybe we think that. Maybe fal'Cie think differently. They're not like us. They're…something more."

"What happened next?"

"I don't know. I was in the gift shop buying a baby chocobo for Dajh." He touched the fuzzy mass of hair sprouting from his head. "There was an explosion, and when I found Dajh, he had the brand of a l'Cie. Kujata the fal'Cie had chosen him for a Focus."

"Why would a 'great,'" Lightning sneered, "fal'Cie need the help of a child?"

"Because of the Pulse l'Cie who caused the incident."

"L'Cie from Pulse? Here, in Cocoon? …Why are you alive?"

Sazh chuckled weakly. "You mean, why didn't the Sanctum kill me to keep from talking and creating a panic? All of Cocoon would be torn apart by fear if people knew there were two Pulse l'Cie running around. But they let me go. Even let me take Dajh to see the fireworks in Bodhum just before the Purge. Because they need him."

"Why?"

"The explosion was the result of the l'Cie magic. Maybe it was an attack on the power plant or maybe on our fal'Cie, I don't know."

"Magic? That's just Pulse technology."

"I didn't believe in it either. Until I saw Dajh. He's the reason they found Anima on Bodhum. He…sensed him, somehow."

"Sensed him?" Lightning roared. "It's a giant alien pillar sticking up fifty feet in the air!"

"Then how come no one knew? PSICOM had no idea about a Pulse fal'Cie in Bodhum until Dajh told me, and I told—"

"You told them?" Lightning shouted.

"What was I supposed to do? It's a Pulse fal'Cie! Don't blame me for whatever happened to your friend."

"Sister! Serah's my sister! We lived in Bodhum! She was made a Pulse l'Cie because of you!"

"That ain't true, and you know it." Sazh was breathing slowly, in contrast to hot snorts from Lightning. "I'm not your enemy. You got a bone to pick with the Pulse l'Cie. I get that. I got one too."

"What do you care? Go back to Euride and face Kujata."

"No. They took my son. PSICOM, I mean. Security reasons. They need him to keep track of the Pulse l'Cie and Anima. I thought I'd come here and…complete his mission for him."

"Kill Anima."

"If that's what it has to be."

"Funny. I was thinking the same thing. Can you walk faster?"

"Help a brother out. There, that's—ow, ow, okay, let's go."

Supporting Sazh on her shoulder, a hand gripping his belt, Lightning strode up the Vestige to where the ringing bells of Anima waited.

* * *

First he had lost Serah, and now the woman on the Hanging Edge. He didn't even know her name.

"Damn!" Snow slammed his fist into the wall so hard the ground shook. A hero? Who was he kidding? Heroes didn't let people die.

Serah. It was the only thought driving him on. The alien god from Pulse had taken his wife. He was going to take her back.

His feet carried him through long metal corridors and up winding staircases. The AMP device on the back of his trench coat hummed its familiar song.

What was he going to say to the fal'Cie? If it even understood language. All the time he had spent thinking about the confrontation hadn't led to any ideas. What did you say to a being, if that was the right word, from an alien planet, one that thought in centuries instead of years, and, optimistically, saw humans on the level of dogs?

You dropped onto your hands and knees and prayed.

It hurt to be helpless. It hurt to be hoping. He thought of Serah. Before Anima, before the Pulse fal'Cie had branded her a l'Cie. When she had been his wife, and the Purge had been a distant rumor.

He had met her because of Lightning, which was ironic. Lightning wasn't subtle about her dislike for him, but he admired how she wore her heart on her sleeve. Serah was the same way, if a lot less…violent. Their outward mannerisms were like night and day, but inside Lightning and Serah had a lot in common. The same determined strength and strong moral convictions. He pretended to be a hero. Serah was a real one.

His own run-in with Lightning hadn't been long after acquiring the AMP device sewn into his trench coat. A Guardian Corps training exercise had gone wrong, and he happened to be in the right place to rescue her. They hadn't exactly hit it off, but her sense of obligation had manifested itself in inviting him to a meal in the seaside home she shared with her sister. He had hit it off with Serah during what must have been the most tense and uncomfortable meal of his life. Lightning hadn't approved. She thought he was an irresponsible idiot. Well, did irresponsible idiots rebel against the Sanctum to gain access to an alien god to do…something?

Well, Lightning?

It wasn't about logic. It was about love. Serah was too damn pretty to be branded, too damn smart to be turned to a Pulse fal'Cie's will. He didn't care what Focus Anima had in mind for Serah. Her Focus was to be his wife, and his to be her husband. No Pulse fal'Cie had any say in that.

He opened a door and saw a flash of brilliant pink hair. "Serah!"

Lightning regarded him coldly. "You lived? Stay out of my way."

* * *

Hope shivered as he walked with the rest of the Purge refugees and NORA rebels who had rescued them, albeit temporarily.

"Everyone keep moving," said Gadot, a big, dark-skinned man, whom Snow had seemed to treat as a second-in-command. "Keep your heads down and just keep walking. As long as they think you're hostages, they won't shoot."

"We are hostages," a girl next to Hope whispered, and giggled. Her voice was high-pitched and musical, in a way that reminded him of tinkling glass. Hope didn't laugh. His mother had been shot down just minutes ago, right in front of him. No one should be allowed to laugh. Laughter was wrong.

Warmechs whined overhead. Flickering beams of green light flashed over Hope and the others intermittently, but nothing happened.

"Keep walking," Gadot said.

"Yes, sir," the girl next to Hope said in a silly, mock-soldier voice. Hope wanted to slap the smile off her face. Did she not understand how serious this was? That his mom had been killed?

Why hadn't the world stopped? Why hadn't the whole world come to a screeching halt the instant the life faded from her eyes?

Why hadn't anyone done anything to stop it?

Rage curled his fingers and grief bent him over. Someone bumped into him from behind—he wanted to strike—and to cry—

"Hey, it's okay," the girl next to him said. Her orange hair showed under the hood of her robe, and a bright, pretty face with sad eyes smiled at him. "Right now all we can do is keep on walking." There was something off about her voice, an accent he couldn't place.

She touched his arm. "Let's go, okay? I promise I'll take care of you."

Take care of him? Judging by her looks, she couldn't have been more than a year or two older than him. But he desperately wanted her words to be true, so he nodded his head and kept walking.

The pattern of the warmechs in flight around them changed suddenly. They swarmed around surrounded them, engines whining like mosquitoes.

"Steady," Gadot said as people faltered. "Keep walking. Sanctum won't fire on its own civilians."

Machine guns appeared out of openings on the warmechs.

"Steady!" Gadot said. "They want someone to pick up a gun!"

"They're going to shoot!" the girl next to Hope screamed, and then an incredible roar split the air. Muzzle flash and sparks flashed—people were screaming, falling—so was he, and everything went black.


	4. After 500 Years, War Begins Again

"Nice to see you too, sis," Snow said evenly.

Lightning pushed past him. A man with a big head of fuzzy hair limped with her, leaning on Ligtning's shoulder. A tiny chocobo popped out of the fuzzy curls and cooed at Snow. That was almost as weird as seeing Lightning support someone other than Serah.

"I'm here to rescue Serah too," Snow said, following after them. "Lightning—"

"You've done enough!" It was a soldier's shout, from a throat worn out from shouting. "Keep away from my sister."

"Who's this?" the man with the chocobo nest for hair said. He had clothes like an engineer, but Snow had seen the pistols in his coat pocket.

"I'm Snow," Snow said. "Who're you?"

"Name's Sazh. Tell me, uh, Snow, what makes a man attack PSICOM at the Hanging Edge to break into the Pulse Vestige?"

"I'm here to rescue my wife, Serah."

"Serah? Say, soldier girl, ain't that your—"

She dropped Sazh, and in the next moment had whipped around, the edge of a Blazfire Sabre hovering an inch from Snow's throat.

"You're the reason Serah's a l'Cie! Give me one reason I shouldn't treat you like a Pulse combatant!"

Snow didn't flinch. The best way to deal with Lightning's aggression was to not give in to it. "I know I'm responsible for what happened to Serah. That's why I'm going to set it right."

"You're not a hero!" Lightning's voice was cracking; it happened when her worn-out vocal cords were stressed. He knew how much she hated it. She never talked when her voice was cracking.

"You couldn't save her!" Lightning said. "You can't save her!"

"This time I will!"

"You're all talk!"

"Calm down!" Sazh was standing now, leaning against a pillar. "Both of you! You both want to rescue this Serah, right? Let's take down the Pulse fal'Cie. Then you two can kill each other."

Lightning pulled her gunsword back, grabbed Sazh by the belt, and dragged him along the hallway. After a moment, Snow followed after.

Another door and another set of stairs brought them to the longest corridor yet, and the sight of—

"What are those?" Lightning said.

"Those are Cie'th," Sazh said grimly.

"What's a Cie'th?" Snow said.

"Cie'th are l'Cie that never completed their Focuses. Look, a fal'Cie brands a person as a l'Cie for a reason, right? Gives them magical powers. Uh, so they say. It's so the l'Cie can complete their Focus. That's their mission the fal'Cie gives them. What do you think happens when they run out of time?"

The massive blue-grey beasts, humanoid, crystalline in parts, shuffled back and forth aimlessly on the platform ahead.

"Failed soldiers," Lightning said.

"That's one way of looking at it."

"How do you know this, anyway?" Snow said.

"It was all in the briefing I got when my son became a Sanctum l'Cie. I'm here to…end his contract early, I suppose."

"Wait, _Sanctum_ fal'Cie do this too? Make these monsters?"

Sazh chuckled darkly. "Thought they were just looking out for us, huh? Our benevolent overlords. Turns out they're more like gods. And gods get angry when their commandments aren't obeyed."

Lightning stared at the dumb, lumbering beasts.

"What are we waiting for?" Snow said. He cracked his fists together. "Let's blow past them and greet the Pulse fal'Cie."

The edge of a gunblade flashed in front of his chest.

"You idiot!" Lightning said. "Don't you understand? One of them might be Serah!"

Snow followed her gaze in horror. "No! She's not a monster."

"Why not?" Lightning demanded. "You can't just deny everything you don't like! Maybe the fal'Cie already turned her into this. And you would have killed her!"

Snow clenched his fists. "No, I wouldn't have! She's not a Cie'th."

"You don't know that!"

"I do! I feel it. They're not Serah."

"You _idiot_!"

"Think about it! It made her a l'Cie. That means she has a Focus, it wants her to complete her Focus! Why else would it brand her?"

Sazh gestured at the Cie'th. "Ask those guys."

Snow exhaled. "We should try to go around anyway. Maybe she's further in still."

"If she's a Cie'th, I'm going to kill you," Lightning said. Her sword hadn't moved.

"You're not the only one," Snow said. "How do we get around them?"

Something pink flickered at the end of the long hall, where the door would be.

"Serah!" Lightning and Snow shouted. They rushed forward, Snow surging ahead, the engine on the back of his trench coat coming to life. Lightning snapped her fingers and was covered in a purple glow, her Blazefire Sabre up and aimed at the nearest Cie'th. She pulled the trigger, and it jerked back, a bullet embedded in its crystalline chest.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Sazh fumbled for the pistols in his coat. He drew them out and staggered forward, ribs throbbing with pain.

Snow was already in the fray, taking a lumbering swing on the arm and countering with a blow to what would have been the creature's jaw. It stumbled back but didn't drop. Snow ground his teeth at the pain in his fist. These things were harder than steel.

Lightning danced within the fray, her face lit up with a snarl and her sword flashing. A purple cloud filled the melee, the built-up inertia from her Grav-Con Unit. She used it as a shield and a transport, ducking behind it to deflect a blow and then shooting to the other end of it to stab with as much force as ten men. Her blade though was turned often as not by the Cie'ths' hides, or whatever they were made out of.

"Duck!" Sazh yelled. Lightning threw herself to the ground. The engineer fired his shotgun, hitting the Cie'th dead in the chest.

"What are these things made out of?" he said as it momentarily shook itself before resuming its forward march.

"Get out of my way!" Snow roared. He ducked the lunging arms of a Cie'th, wrapped around its waist, and hurled it over the platform.

"Now you're thinking!" Lightning said. She drew the purple field back over her body, then rushed forward with superhuman speed, planted a hand on a Cie'th, and shoved. It flailed as it fell helplessly over the edge. There were six more, and Sazh watched in amazement as the two fighters powered by AMP technology took care of them in the same way.

Lightning sagged, panting, when it was over, leaning on her gunsword.

"Damn it," Snow said, wavering on his feet. The AMP device on the back of his trench coat was whirring at a high pitch. "Serah!"

"Hold on a moment, you two!" Sazh said. He broke his shotgun down into pistols and stowed them away in his coat. "No good running after a fal'Cie when you're worn out." He reached out to Lightning, but she pushed his hand away and stood up. Without saying a word, she strode off toward the end of the corridor.

Feet pounded on the metal platform. A slender, pink-haired girl was running toward them.

"Serah!"

She looked like Lightning, but younger, and her face was softer, more gentle. The two sisters grabbed each other in a tight embrace.

"I was so scared—"

"Are you hurt?"

"—watching you fight—"

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"—wanted to run over—"

"Serah, did they hurt you?"

"—stuck here for a whole day—"

Lightning pushed her sister back and held her by the shoulders. "Are you all right?"

"What? Yes, I'm fine! I mean, I'm not fine, but I'm fine!"

"Serah!" Snow grabbed the girl and pulled her to him. Their arms wrapped around each other, their lips met. Sazh looked away. Lightning looked furious.

"I was so worried you'd come after me," Serah said.

"The hero always saves his girl," Snow said.

"We have to get you out of here," Lightning said curtly. "PSICOM has the place surrounded, but Lake Bresha is right below us. I have a Grav-Con Unit, so I'll take you in a buddy jump. Snow will look after himself."

"What about me, huh?" Sazh said. "It doesn't matter. I'm staying. I have to deal with the fal'Cie."

"You can't go yet," Serah said. "We have to stay just a little longer. If you go, I'll turn into a monster."

* * *

Hope wasn't dead.

"What happened?"

He was lying down on the bridge. A girl, the orange-haired one from before, leaned over him, her cheeks streaked with tears.

"We're alive?" Hope said muzzily. "I remember the warmechs surrounded us—the machine guns!"

"You're the only one—close enough—who I could save," the girl sobbed.

"What are you talking about?" Hope sat up, marveling a little at how refreshed his body felt. "What's going on?"

"We have to get out of here!" The girl grabbed him and pulled him up. "They're going to kill us!"

Hope stumbled after her as they ran down the bridge over the Hanging Edge. Far down below Lake Bresha waited. Warmechs flickered faintly in the distance. It looked like all their attention was on the enormous Pulse Vestige.

"We have to go there!"

"Where?"

The girl pointed.

"The Vestige? Are you crazy? There's a Pulse fal'Cie on that thing!"

"So what?"

"So _what_?"

"That was your mother, wasn't it?"

Hope's heart wrenched. "What?"

"Your mother was shot, wasn't she? I'm sorry. The man who did it went into that Vestige. I watched!"

"S-so what?"

"Don't you want to say something to him? Now's your last chance!"

"What are you talking about?"

She stopped suddenly and grabbed the front of his shirt. He flinched at the fierceness on her face.

"You can't just let something like that go! If you do, you'll regret it forever! Go and say something to him!"

The image of his mother's lifeless face, and the dumb smirk on the idiot who had taken her from him flashed into his mind.

"Maybe—maybe I would like to say something."

"Then let's do it!" She pulled him along by the wrist.

"Where's your accent from?" Hope said as they ran.

"This is just the way I talk!"

"What's your name?"

"Vanille!"

"I'm Hope."

"That's a good name!"

"Where are we going?"

Vanille stopped suddenly, still holding his wrist, with surprising force for such a thin girl.

"Hmm. I don't know!"

"You don't know?"

"We need one of those flying bikes."

"The…Snow and the others left theirs back at the weapon cache."

"Come on!"

They ran. Hope's lungs were burning and his side knotted by the time they reached the decimated cache. Snow and his soldiers had raided it for weapons and ammunition and left a wreck behind. Taking what they needed regardless of the consequences. Just like with his—with M-Moth—

Vanille touched his hand. "Hey," she said gently. "Just a little longer. Be strong, okay?"

Hope gasped and nodded. Vanille jogged over to one of the hoverbikes. "How do you turn this thing on?"

Hope headed over. "Move back." He sat in front of her and keyed the engine.

"You know how to drive this?"

"No."

"What? Wait—EEEEEEH!"

The hoverbike took off with a kick and a roar, slamming Hope against Vanille against the back of the circular cover. It screamed into the sky. Hope fought for control with the handlebars. At first the bike bucked and fought, but eventually he managed to pull it in line and aimed it at the floating, enormous metallic-crystal structure that was the Pulse Vestige.

Warmechs turned their way. Hope could _feel_ the guns leveled on their craft.

"They're going to blow us out of the sky!"

"Keep going!" Vanille urged.

If Hope's hands hadn't been trembling, if he had better control of the bike, he might have swung away, and they would have been blown out of the sky. Instead he only accelerated. At the last moment, the warmechs swerved out of the way.

"We're going to crash!" Vanille screamed. Hope tugged the handlebars, but the bike clipped a rail on the Vestige and sent them tumbling over the side too fast over the metal surface—Hope clipped the floor, and everything went black.

* * *

"You're all right!"

Hope opened his ears. Purple blotches turned into Vanille's relieved face.

"We survived?"

"I think so!" She helped him sit up. "You had a nasty fall."

"We're…we're on the Pulse Vestige? How did you know we'd make it?"

Vanille put a finger on her cheek and made a humming noise as if she was contemplating the answer deeply. Then she nodded her head and smiled. "Sometimes you have to believe in miracles."

"So…what now?"

"We find Snow!"

"This is crazy! We're on the Pulse Vestige! Don't you understand?"

"Don't be grumpy."

"Grumpy? Are you insane? We're stuck with a Pulse fal'Cie! We'll be turned into Pulse l'Cie if we stay here. If we leave, we'll be gunned down by Sanctum warmechs! This is all your fault!"

"Don't shout at me." Vanille humphed and stood up. Hands on her hips, she strolled across the room, looking around like she was trying to find something. "Ah! Look what I found!"

She came out holding some kind of staff with deer antlers on the end and four long wire hooks.

"What is that?"

"It was just lying over there."

"Then maybe it's something from Pulse! Throw it away!"

"Oh, Pulse can't be that bad." Vanille inspected the rod, plucking the wires.

"Not that bad?" Hope jumped to his feet, marveling at how fresh he felt after a crash landing. "Pulse is a living hell! Only monsters live there. We beat them in the last war, but they sent a fal'Cie here! They won't stop until the Sanctum falls and everyone on Cocoon is dead."

"That's awful. Why would they do that?"

"Because they're from Pulse!"

"Awful," Vanille said. She swung the rod around. "Well? Let's go!"

"You're awfully cheery," Hope grumbled as Vanille danced along the metal corridor.

"Explain what happened five hundred years ago," Vanille said. "There was a big war?"

"You never paid much attention in class, huh?" Vanille shook her head. "Fine. Look, you know what Pulse is, right?"

"Um, maybe? Not the way you do, Mr. Schoolboy!"

Hope couldn't decide if she was teasing. "Well, Cocoon orbits Pulse. It's like we're the moon, and Pulse is the planet. The Sanctum fal'Cie keep us up in the air and running, but the Pulse fal'Cie resent Cocoon. They don't like feeling like there's anything above them."

"Really?"

"That's what we learned. So there was a big war, and our fal'Cie won, led by Eden."

"Who's Eden?"

"Who's _Eden_?" Hope almost did a spit-take, then remembered he was talking to Vanille and sighed. "Eden is the fal'Cie who runs Cocoon. Even the Primarch answers to it. You do know the Sanctum fal'Cie, don't you?"

"Um…."

Hope groaned. "There's Eden, of course, and Phoenix, who takes care of weather. Rain, snow, sunshine, it's all up to Phoenix. Carbuncle makes the food in Palumpolum, and Kujata supplies power, and Leviathan makes and recycles the water. There's other ones like Protera and Siren, a bunch of different functions. You really don't know any of this?"

"I might remember now?" Vanille giggled, and Hope decided to drop the question.

"So the Pulse fal'Cie are bad," Vanille said. "Their l'Cie must be even worse."

"No kidding," Hope said. "Maybe the fal'Cie came here to try to create l'Cie. You know, agents on the inside."

"I hope we don't run into any."

"We might _become_ the Pulse l'Cie!"

Vanille placed a hand on his shoulder. She smiled. "Don't worry. I promise you it'll be all right."

"Yeah…thanks."

Vanille suddenly held a finger to his lips. "Shh!"

"What?" Hope whispered.

Vanille pressed her ear against the door. "I hear…oh! It's Snow!"

"What? W-wait!"

Vanille keyed the door open.

* * *

Lightning whipped around at the opening door, hand on the hilt of her blade.

"Whoa!" Snow said. "Hey, you two look familiar."

"Snow!" Vanille bounced along the platform.

"Who are these children?" Lightning snapped.

"We're hostages!" Vanille said. "Snow made us."

"Cheeky kid." Snow grabbed her cheek and pinched. "It was that or the Purge train. Your choice."

Vanille pulled away. "I don't want to be Purged and sent to Pulse! It's a living hell there!"

"This is a mess," Sazh said.

Hope ran up, then slowed and stopped. He stared at Snow, taking deep breaths, his fingers curling into fists.

"Yo." Snow noticed him. "Did the others make it out OK?"

Hope's eyes widened. "Uh—"

"You're all here," Serah gasped. Everyone looked at her. "Oh…I just realized. Um, I have two things to say. Save us. And thank you."

A white glow lit her body. Eyes closing, she rose into the air, shimmering like an angel. White flutters of crystal that resembled flower petals flickered in and out of existence around her like flames. A strange pale luminescence wrapped over her body like the purple glow of an activated Grav-Con Unit. Her body turned to crystal, and she fell gently to the floor.

"Serah!" Lightning and Snow shouted. They raced over, feeling the crystal that covered Serah's sleeping form with baffled expressions.

"It's the legend!" Snow realized suddenly. "When l'Cie complete their Focus, they turn to crystal. That's the ultimate gift the Sanctum fal'Cie give to their l'Cie. Why shouldn't it be the same for Pulse l'Cie?"

"She's a Pulse l'Cie?" Hope shouted.

"Shut it, kid," Sazh said.

"Serah knew we were coming." Snow stood up and spread his arms at them. "She had us wait for you two! Her Focus was to bring us together. Now we just need to figure out why."

Lightning rose to her feet. "Snow."

He turned around, and fell to the floor, holding his chin.

Lightning shook some life into her fist. "Face reality! A Pulse fal'Cie branded her! It's not a gift! It's action against an enemy!"

"She's just sleeping," Snow protested.

Lightning glared at Hope and Vanille. "Who are you two?"

They glanced at each other. Lightning looked ready to kill. "Um, I'm Hope, and this is Vanille. Whoa!" He staggered back, flinching and covering his face with his arms. Lightning had her gunsword drawn and aimed.

"She turned into crystal after you two showed up. What are you hiding?"

"Do not point guns at kids," Sazh said coldly. His own pistol was leveled at Lightning. "Lower it. Now."

"It was an accident that we came here," Hope trembled. "Honest. We just wanted to escape the Purge."

Lightning snorted. Stowing her Blazefire Saber, she whirled and stormed toward the next set of stairs.

"Wait!" Snow ran after her. "Where are you going?"

"To avenge my sister."

"Not alone!"

"H-hold up!" Sazh, holding his side, half-dashed, half-limped over. "I got a pair of pistols and a few things to say to a Pulse fal'Cie."

"Come on!" Vanille looked pale. She grabbed Hope's wrist. "We have to hurry! They're going to attack the fal'Cie!"

"You can't fight a fal'Cie!" Hope said. "They're not even alive!"

"Well, they're going to try! Hurry!"

"So this is the fal'Cie."

Lightning spared a glance for the white-haired kid following up behind Sazh. The fal'Cie was a dark metal dome, still and silent. She wouldn't have though it was anything other than inert machinery if it wasn't…clearly a fal'Cie. Long tubes ran from its center up to somewhere. Patterns and markings she didn't understand scored the metal surface.

"You got what you wanted!" Snow pushed forward and addressed the foreboding…thing. "Serah completed her Focus. Now give her back to us!"

Lightning drew her sword.

"Please, I'll do anything!" Snow dripped to his knees, his hands held in prayer. "I'll become your next l'Cie! Just return her to life."

Lightning scanned the dome, looking for something to cut. A cold rage was filling her limbs.

"Lift your head, Snow." Her voice was clipped with fury. "We're here to kill this thing."

Sazh pulled out his pistols. "Give me something to shoot, and I'll help."

"Wait!" Vanille said. "Maybe—"

The floor lit up in bright yellow display. Four cyclones whirled in each corner, emitting clouds of steam, and then a tall, winding pillar from each one.

"What's going on?" Hope said.

The fal'Cie opened at the center. A white light shone, and then burst out, forcing them all to look away.

"I can't see!" Lightning raged. The light faded only a moment later. The fal'Cie was opening and unfolding into a mechanical monster, the twin pillars at the corners closest to it connecting to the wires and hovering overhead like hands looking to smash. At the center of the fal'Cie was a dark purple crystal.

Panic spiked inside Hope. He turned and fled, but an orange barrier appeared out of nowhere and blocked the exit, making him stumble and fall. Vanille ran to him while Sazh, Lightning, and Snow held their ground.

"Are we really sure we can do this?" Sazh said. "Kill a fal'Cie?"

"You said you wanted something to shoot, didn't you?" Lightning pointed her sword at the crystal heart. "There's your target."

"We're doing this for Serah," Snow said. "Nothing's going to stop us."

Lightning snapped her fingers, and the battle began.


	5. Chains

Hope huddled with Vanille by the orange barrier as the battle ensued. The woman, Lightning, burst forward surrounded by a crackling purple field.

"Magic?" Vanille squeaked.

"It's AMP technology!" Hope said. "Soldiers use it. It makes you stronger, faster, using inertia."

"It sounds like magic."

"Only l'Cie use magic," Hope scolded.

Lightning was surrounded by a purple haze, dancing amid swiping pillared hands. Her sword clanged off the metal, sending sparks shooting into the air, blurring oddly as they came into contact with the shimmering AMP field. It was surreal watching her fight; it looked inhuman. Her grace, her speed were all impossible, her movement strangely disjointed as she slowed to strike, then accelerated with barely a push of her feet to the other side of the translucent purple cloud. _So that's a soldier,_ Hope thought.

Snow was acting as a tank against the left-side pillared hand. The blows looked heavy enough to crush him, but he blocked each on his naked forearms. A high-pitched whirring was filling the battlefield.

"Look carefully!" Vanille said. "That's AMP technology! In his coat!"

"How do _you_ know that?"

"Is he a soldier?"

" _I_ don't know that!"

The fal'Cie was fighting back. Something exploded out of the center of the hand nearest Lightning, a kind of dark blast that she barely dodged. The aftermath of the bomb, or whatever it was, looked almost like an AMP field. Vanille clenched her fists in worry.

"Don't worry," Hope said, his eyes on Snow. "He's good at killing things."

"I don't want anyone to fight!" Vanille snapped.

Hope winced as the ground shoot under Snow's feet from another heavy blow. "It's a little late for that!"

Lightning rolled out of the way of another dark blast. "Sazh, shoot it!"

"On it!" Sazh aimed his pistols and fired. Something orange flickered in front of the crystal.

"It's a barrier!" Hope shouted. "We can't escape!"

"Then how do we get through?" Snow said.

Lightning's Grav-Con Unit gave a warning beep. Low battery. At the rate she was using it, it wouldn't last another minute.

"We cut through," she said. "Snow, I need an opening. Sazh, aim at the heart."

"I tried, soldier girl! You got a backup plan?"

Lightning didn't answer, just redoubled her hold on her sword and charged in again. A pillared hand swiped her way; she rolled toward the purple field she had left dodging the explosive blasts. A shadow loomed over her rising figure; Snow intercepted it, bearing with a grunt an impact strong enough to shake the floor. Lightning stood and swiped her gunsword through the purple field, dissipating it into her blade.

It had _looked_ like an AMP field, the orange barrier flickering around the crystal heart. A stronger AMP field beat a weaker one for exactly the same reason a greater force could smash through a lesser one.

As she charged toward the crystal heart, sword stabbing, she hoped hers was stronger.

The tip of her blade penetrated the orange barrier.

Her Grav-Con Unit shrieked its death alarm. The ground shook and cracked. Chains ripped through the air and seized Lightning before she could react. Snow, out of the corner of her eye, was in a similar situation. She struggled, but it was useless without her Grav-Con Unit, which screamed and screamed.

Bells drowned it out, washing over the mechanical noise like a ocean wave over a tide pool. ere ringing, clear and pure, and beyond them, a song, familiar and distant, ghostly, words she couldn't understand. Anima…opened, became a mass of writhing chains and whirling giant cylinders. Turquoise light shined from within openings on its rising form. As it unfolded, it took on the appearance of a dragon, Lightning thought.

She had tried to fight this. A child might as well have challenged a warmech.

One of Anima's great metal hands blazed with white light. Four rays burst toward them. One stabbed Lighting in the chest; she shouted in shock, but it didn't hurt.

The tower around them was crumbling, the Pulse Vestige breaking up under the weight of Anima's power. The chains released Lightning, and she fell into the black void. Far, far below, Lake Bresha and a cold, icy death awaited.

The whine of warmechs reached her dully through the tolling bells like an image through rippling water. Green lights burned the air. The lasers weren't aimed at her but at the awakened fal'Cie. An explosion burst from the crystal core. The warmechs were shattered, disintegrated, and so was the Pulse Vestige. Lightning, the others, and the fal'Cie plummeted amid the rubble toward the lake far below.

Hazy images flashed through her head. A many-limbed beast bursting from solid rock, spraying liquid around it. Even compared to the fal'Cie, the sight of it affected her. Just that single vision, brief and unfocused, carried with it a sense of wrongness, something that shouldn't be. Something desperate, something dangerous. Something that chilled the soldier's blood.

It was like watching someone show a gun to a people who had never heard of warfare.

Her mind was so intent on the beast that it wasn't until moments before impact that she realized the lake had become crystal, and that she was going to die.

And so it drifted, as minds will do, to happier days.


End file.
